witch. doctor. which doctor? doctor who. yeah.

My kids ADORE Halloween. Yes, the prospect of acquiring massive loads of candies are a big motivator, but I think they love the "dressing up" part more. They get to show their coolness and creativity, choosing off-beat characters that you don't often find in the racks of them big box stores.

Every year, they give me a challenge to fulfill their costume wishes, and every year, I manage to pull something wonderful out of my bum. Serious. Check out Halloweens 2008 and 2009. So proud. :)

And now in 2010,...

Lam declared from the very beginning that wanted to dress as his favourite peace-loving alien saviour of worlds. No, not Superman -- I'm talking about The Doctor! The 11th Doctor, to be exact. So we gathered up a suit jacket and bow tie (from a 2nd hand store), suspenders (from Roomie's collection of childhood clothes), psychic paper (Mommy's old wallet), and of course, THE BELOVED sonic screwdriver, ordered from ThinkGeek.

The kids wore their costumes to school today for their Halloween party, but with the school's policy of "no costume weapons", Lam wanted me to talk to his teach to make sure his sonic screwdriver -- the peaceful tool The Doctor uses to accomplish his good deeds -- didn't get confiscated.

Because if it did, he wouldn't be The Doctor. He'd be just a dude in a suit.

Or Orville Redenbacher.


All went well, and he spent all afternoon with his beloved toy in hand.

Mini, on the otherhand, made my life easy with her wickedly adorable witch costume that she fell in love with during a trip to Zeller's with Roomie. She just added her black cat stuffie named Lala, et voila!

There were about 4 other witches in her classroom, but she was the only one with a mysterious black cat. Which is, you know, the Most. Awesome. Thing. Ever!

Mini gets to wear her costume at her dance class on Saturday the 30th and of course for trick-or-treating on Sunday the 31. Lots of mileage, so yay!

Yeah, we're ready. Are you?

livingroom: before & after. ish.

I'm sick. Again. Meh, I've been healthy for the last 3 months, and well, I'm overdue for another one of these phlegmtastic events.

I don't like being sick, because (a) it feels super crappy, and (b) I get nothing done.

Now, Roomie tells me that I'm not just sitting around doing nothing -- I'm healing, resting so that my body can get better faster. Ain't he the sweetest thing?! Yeah, he is.

But I still can't help but feel like a little lazy girl.

Then I look at pictures of what I've done, and I'm reminded that I'm not really a bon-bon-eating, watching-my-soaps-all-afternoon kind of mama.

Pictures like the changes to my livingroom! I still have to change the area rug and curtain, put up the new bamboo blinds, and get a new coffee table/ottoman, but it's at 90% which is close enough to show off. It's nothing like the family room metamorphosis, but the energy is so much better than it was before.

Check out the before and after...

before.

after.

You like?

3rd blogoversary extravaganza: the conclusion...

Thanks to all for entering, and for all of your lovely Blogoversary greetings! You all warmed my heart cockles. :)

This morning, I asked Mini to do the all-important task of drawing the name. So, she put on her Pink Poodle Earmuffs of Infinite Loveliness and went at it...

Drumroll please...

And the scarf goes to...

Congratulations to the lovely and talented Adam Avitable!

Please email me your colour preference, and I'll get started on you scarf right away!
Not sure if it'll be done by Blissdom, so I'll shoot for Christmas. :)

family room: before & after.

This post could also also be called My Family Room Grows Up. Really!

Many moons ago, I complained that my family room looked like a dorm room. That's totally not hyperbole, people. I had a futon, mismatched picture frames, a crap load of clutter on the kitchen (in the foreground), and the Vim-green walls that look like they've been there since the 70s.

But now, with the new paintjob, the new couch, the made-over lamp, beautiful framed pictures painted by Mini and Lam, and a little decluttering, it's totally brilliant, my lovelies! Have a look at these Before and After shots...

Before.

After.

So, what do you think?!

day 45 of 90: cleanses blow goats.

Don't forget to head over and leave a comment on my 3rd Blog Anniversary Extravaganza for a chance to get your own NenetteAM original knit scarf!

+++

Lost: 6lbs.

Halfway through my FatBet. Only 6 pounds lost. My fat is laughing at me. "Ha-ha! You thought you could get rid of me! Bahahaha!" See? My fat is so hurtful and not loving. Jerk.

But it hasn't been a very easy and supportive 6 weeks. I've had to deal with a superbad period, 3 weeks of surgery and recovery that was meant to solve the superbad periods but didn't (oh, yeah, more on that in another post), and Thanksgiving dinner with the most awesome-and-evil stuffing.

My post-surgery, purge-my-body-of-hospital-drugs, my-bathroom-is-my-best-friend herbal cleanse helped me lose 3 pounds.

Ah, yes, my cleanse. Here's what I observed...

.: Cramped up a lot the first 4 days.
.: Day 5, Realized that cramping will stop if I fill up my tummy. Wish I'd realized that earlier.
.: Missed dairy. In yogurt form. A lot.
.: Cheated a couple of times. With pumpkin pie. It was yummy.
.: Bad things came out of my pores. As said before, smelled like a hobo. It was wrong... so, so wrong.
.: Felt clearheaded and alert. It was nice. Then Thanksgiving hit.
.: Was positive I'd lost 10 pounds. Nope. Only 3. Made me sad.

It's all okay, though. It's all good. And I'm feeling optimistic.
Especially now that I've received the thumbs-up from my gynecologist to start working out again.

I have 6 more weeks to this challenge, and as long as I'm good on my birthday (Nov 5th!), I should make goal by the end of this FatBet... and avoid the penalty of wearing one of those horrible holiday sweaters in public. Because, baby, there's no lookin' hot in one of those!

The things I need to focus on:
+ more water
+ back to workouts: hula/HIIT/Tabata/etc.
+ no more dairy

Onward.

3rd blogoversary extravaganza... and a present for one of you.

Yes, lovey loversons, my blog is 3 years old this month!!!

Unlike the previous 2 anniversaries, I'm keeping the celebrations relatively low key this year. Primarily because I forgot about it and just remembered today. Yes, I'm a spaz. Stop laughing.

So, now I find myself scrambling to pull something out of my bum for this special occasion.

But before I reveal what I found down there for you, I'd like to quickly recap a handful of the bloggerifficness of the last 12 months...

Three (3) events that made for great blog fodder: my 40th birthday, water damage in my bathroom, and chopping almost 2 feet of my hair off.

So many of you delurking to help me raise $65 for relief efforts in Haiti. You all totally rock, guys!

The sad closing of the Silicon Valley Moms Group, ending the run of the Canada Moms Blog and one of the best blogging gigs I've ever had.

You made me want to cook you all soup and knit you sweaters for the loving support you gave me via the comments to this post.

Despite my blogging dry spell over Spring/Summer, my subscriber number still kept climbing, and when the dry spell ended, you all came back!

And now, to celebrate the occasion, I'm giving YOU the present!

To thank you all for your super-duper love and support over the last year, I'm giving you all the chance to receive an equally super-duper blogoversary present from me...

A knit scarf created by me!

I know -- ridiculously cool, right?! I've been knitting for over 25 years, and I've made some awesome scarves in the past!
No, I haven't made it yet. If I draw your name, YOU can choose the colour the scarf will be.

Want in? Okay, here's what you do:

1: Leave me a comment below... in the comments. Your comment is your entry.
2: For a 2nd entry, leave your answer to the following skill-testing/trivia-ish question...

What comedy skit does the title to this post come from?

If you don't know the answer, make something up -- the more creative the better. You don't have to get it right. I will accept all answers.

You have until 11:59pm Thursday the 21st. Tune in on Friday the 22nd to see if you'll be the scarfed one!

xo

30 days of truth. take 2.

Shortly after my recent surgery, I found the 30 Days of Truth on my friend Adam's swankilicious blog, and said "yeah, I'll do it too!"

Then I chickened out.

Healing from having your lady bits interfered with by surgical instruments makes one feel more than a little vulnerable. Doing the 30 Days would leave one too many things raw and open for me.

But now that I'm almost 100%, I think I'm up for the sharing of my innards.

Question is: Are you up for reading all the frightening details?

Pfft -- as if y'all had any choice... ;)

things to be thankful for. maraming salamat.

Once again, it's Thanksgiving up here in the Great White North.

As Canucks all over Canuckville celebrate with turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, poutine, etc., I've come up with a list of things we all should be grateful for...

falling asleep watching a tv show on a lazy afternoon without a care in the world, because you're with your dad, who is so awesome, he can protect you from the monsters even in his sleep...

taking pictures with your sis, even when that smartass camel decides it would be fun to bonehead the shot...

looking at bling with your cousin Jess, while your bro tries to kick Jess's boyfriend's ass at Wii Sports Resort...

having an oldie-time blacksmith pound out a nail for you to take home and NOT hammer into your bedroom wall...

a lovely new personalized cat pillow that you and your Mom decorated for the mental cat, who didn't say thank you because she just expected that she deserved gifts...

driving a go-kart that matches your pretty yellow party dress, at your buddy's birthday party...

riding an oldie-time tractor even if it is indoors, because you decided it was time to trade up from go-karts...

visiting with Gramma, who, if you didn't stop her, would spend the entire visit looking for cookies just so she could have something to give to you... aw...

enjoyin' The Forks and struttin' around in your fly fresh hoodie, because it's the place to see and be seen, yo...

pretend mouse burgers for your stuffie cat, because the rest of your stuffies are vegetarian...

priceless beloved friends, who invite you over,


... ply you with booze, and cook so much delish meat for you that you blissfully die from the meat sweats...

... yummmm...

racing up... from the river... toward your Dad and Mom at the top of the bank... because you can... and it's beautiful out... and you're so happy and alive...

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

May you have many things to be thankful for...

my blog is so lovely, you can't eat your dinner.

Earlier this week, Nikki of My Cyber House Rules said:

"I love Nenette from Life Candy"

Aw, I love you too, Miss Nikki! And not just because you gave me this awesome award!
I know Nikki and her lovely blog through the lovely and talented Studio 30+ group, and lordy, she's funny. Her blog posts had me laughing so hard, I had juice coming out of my nose. Okay, it was actually water. I don't drink juice, but juice sounded funnier.
Oh, shut it, I've had a rough week with Mini throwing up the contents of her and 3 other little people's stomachs and Roomie sick with a man cold. I can make non-funny jokes and pretend they're all funny. It's my blog. Whatever.

Okay, with this great honour -- in case I've digressed long enough to make you forget what the honour was, check out the pic above -- comes great responsibility. And here are mine...

1: Thank the dude/dudette who awarded you with the award.
Thanks, Nikki! You rock harder than a huge pile of rocks!

2: Share the love with 15 8 other bloggers I've recently discovered.
I'm only listing 8 because sadly, I've been too busy dealing with 6yo puke (aka puke from a 6yo) and man colds to read new blogs. I will list them without description, in non-alphabetical order, and not in order of magnitude of loveliness. I love them all equally.

Mommy Wants Vodka (okay, this is more of a rediscover)
Miss Minimalist
Becoming Minimalist
Remodeling this Life
hula seventy
loving. living. small.
Hashai
Be More With Less

3: Let them know you've awarded them.
This is the hardest part. Dang, these rules suck. Can't I just assume they have their Google Alerts set? Crap.

Anyway, thanks again, Nikki, for this lovely award for my lovely blog. And all of yous guys should go and check her out. She'll have you squirting various fluids out of your orifices too!

day 30 of 90: will this stuff also cleanse the gutter that is my mind?

Net lost: 3 pounds

Yeah, "net" loss. About 2 days after my surgery, I stepped on the scale and found I'd gained 6 pounds! 6 POUNDS!!!
Okay, my FatBet girls suggested that it might be water-retention from all the surgery and pain meds, which was so reassuring, but boy, did those numbers throw me for a loop!

Then, as planned, I started a cleanse/detox on September 29. Which means I'm on Day 3 of the cleanse. See? I told you I'd blog about math-y things.
I've done these cleanse-y things before, and I've read that it's always a good idea to especially do one after surgery to help purge the body of all the drugs and junk. This time, I'm doing the Wild Rose D-Tox by Canadian herbalist Dr. Terry Willard Ph.D.


Thing is it comes with a meal plan that you MUST FOLLOW to be successful. Yeah. Right.
Anyway, I'm already eating healthily so I'm just adding the herbals. The world hasn't kersploded, so I'm sticking to it.

So, what have I felt so far? Here are the top 3...

1: I'm having a seriously skeevy "stink like a hobo" situation! Gross. Something's coming out of my pores, and it's not the smell of roses and cinnamon buns.

2: I am always on the lookout for the nearest bathroom. This is a cleanse after all.

3: I've lost 7 pounds! Probably mostly water, but it's very motivating because it signals the start of fat loss.

All expected. So far, so good.